The Swan Valley Health Centre has drawn plenty of negativity from the public online.
Despite the negative comments from some, Slate says Prairie Mountain Health considers safety a top priority.
"Not just reactively and reacting to incidents that may have occurred, but proactively," said Slate. "We know that ensuring that we have safe and secure environments is essential to delivering high-quality care. It helps support the recruitment and retention of employees and physicians. It also helps maintain the trust of the people we serve."
In November, Swan River RCMP were called to the emergency department when an intoxicated man locked himself in the bathroom with a knife.
PMH has engaged in several initiatives to ensure they provide safe work environments and service delivery areas. They also provide required staff education and violence prevention training.
They also limit access points at all of their facilities. This ensures each facility has only a few primary entry points.
"We've done other initiatives like installing security cameras at most of our sites," continued Slate. "We've installed communication systems internally. We have safety apps and amnesty lockers in some of our facilities."
Darlene Jackson, the president of the Manitoba Nurses Union, is calling on the Manitoba government and PMH to hire two institutional safety officers for the Swan Valley Health Centre.
ISOs are peace officers and require training in crisis intervention, de-escalation techniques, investigation skills, collecting evidence, and report writing.
Jackson has seen a rapid increase and escalation in violence in hospitals and clinics around the province.
According to PMH, Brandon is the only city outside Winnipeg that has ISOs in a health-care facility.
PMH works with Manitoba Health and Shared Health to determine what initiatives will be implemented to ensure safety and security are offered consistently throughout the health system.
"Institutional safety officers are a part of that. We have security personnel on other levels available throughout the health system," ended Slate. "Through a coordinated approach, there will be a determination on where we will be implementing ISOs in our facilities."
In November, two representatives of the Manitoba Nurses Union met with nurses at the Swan Valley Health Centre. From the meeting, the union put forward clear, non-negotiable safety demands and followed through with a formal safety grievance.
They included amnesty lockers, visitor screening and badges, whistles and noise-making devices provided to staff, and funding for an additional emergency room nurse, ensuring three nurses on every shift.
